Just one problem: Commercial fishing is banned in the Show-Me
State, except by permit in the
Mississippi River, whose muddy waters don't produce the
high-quality roe valued by caviar lovers.

But with fine Missouri roe commanding prices as high as $550 per
pound, according to the Star, why let a little thing like the law
stand in your way?

Such was perhaps the thinking of eight men now charged with
paddlefish poaching, according to the
Associated Press. The federal charges were filed after an
investigation that spanned nine states and lasted several years.

One defendant was seized at Dulles International Airport in
Washington, D.C., while attempting to smuggle several pounds of
paddlefish roe out of the country in his luggage, according to a
statement by the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Poaching is really stealing a resource meant for the citizens of
Missouri and others who come here to fish," Nick Laposha, Kansas
City protection regional supervisor for the Missouri Department
of Conservation, told the Star. "The commercialization is the
problem."

Like their cousins in Asia Minor, the paddlefish population of
the Mississippi basin has declined precipitously due to
overfishing and alterations of river habitats by dam
construction, according to the
U.S. Geological Survey.

Though the fish were once common throughout the central United
States and into Canada, paddlefish are no longer seen in four
states or in Canada, and several states list the ancient species
as endangered or threatened. A close relative, the Chinese
paddlefish (Psephurus gladius), is believed to be
extinct.

Paddlefish, which can grow as large as 7 feet (2 meters) and
weigh over 160 pounds (73 kilograms), are an ancient species that
has survived largely unchanged from the late Cretaceous period,
around 70 million to 75 million years ago.

Like sharks, paddlefish have skeletons made primarily of
cartilage. Their long snouts contain sensors that can detect weak
electrical fields and help the fish to feed on plankton.